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Shut Up: Flower Boy Band korean drama review
Completed
Shut Up: Flower Boy Band
1 people found this review helpful
by ltspada
Oct 30, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 3
Overall 10
Story 10.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 10.0
This review may contain spoilers

Great all round drama - highly recommend

0/10 is my rating. This is a 2012 South Korean TV series with 16, 45 minute, episodes. The flower boy band consists of a group of teenage boys who, while they share a love of music, are different in the way they approach the world. The vocalist Joo Byung-hee (Lee Min-ki) is carefree and wild. He leads up the band "Eye Candy" who exist in the underground rock scene. One of the band members is playboy Kim Ha-jin (Yoo Min-kyu) who is a study in contrast from fellow band memeber baby-faced Seo Kyung-jong (Kim Min-seok) . Fashionable Lee Hyun-soo. Their school closes down and they elect to go to a neighboring school when a rival band, Strawberry Fields, is found to be the ruling band at that school. Tensions flare between the rival bands and Eye Candy's lead singer is killed. The band has to pull it back together and make their dream, and their dead friend's a reality. This is an installment of the Flower Boy series by TVN. Spoiler 🚨 I liked the other two I watched so well that I decided to give it a try even with the sad element the summaries on other sites reveal (the death of one of the band members).

Main cast:
Joo Byung-hee (Lee Min-ki) the original lead singer of "Eye Candy" He is wild, crazy and free spirited. He is a talented vocalist and song writer.
Kwon Ji-hyuk (Sung Joon) He become the leader of "Eye Candy" after Byung-hee's unexpected passing. Byung-hee was his best friend and they wrote songs together. His original goal is to realize Byung-hee's dream and play on stage.
Lee Hyun-soo [L (Kim Myung-Soo)] "Eye Candy" guitarist. He was originally Ji-hyuk's closest friend as children until Byung-hee arrived. He learned to play guitar because of Ji-hyuk and his desire to share something with his friend. He has the personality to interact and be the front person for the band. As a caregiver for his younger sister he has motivation to make it big.
Jang Do II (Lee Hyun-jae) is "Eye Candy's" drummer. His father is a mob boss and Do II is often referred to as "the Prince" as a result. He is the peace keeper of the group and makes suprisingly mature observations.
Kim Ha-jin (Yoo Min-kyu) is "Eye Candy's" bass player. He is a playboy/ladies' man. He spends his time, outside of music, dating one girl after another and staying out at clubs.
Seo Kyung-jong (Kim Min-suk) is Eye Candy's keyboardist. He is best friends with Ha-jin and spends a lot of time as his wing man. He is very loyal and often brings levity to the group.
Im Soo-ah (Jo Bo-ah) was Byung-hee's muse and he started a song, before his death, based on his first encounter with her. She was once one of the "rich kids" but her family fell on hard times and she is hiding her new impoverished life. Her and Ji-hyuk are similarly alone in life - with no family close - and form a friendship as neighbors.
Ye-rim (Kim Ye-rim) has known the boys since their younger years and is viewed, by some, as one of the family. She loves Ji-hyuk but he does not return her feelings. She is jealous of Soo-ah who gets a lot of Ji-hyuk's attention.
Yoo Seung-hoon (Jung Eui-chul) lead of the rival band "Strawberry Fields" he is Soo-ah's childhood friend and self professed boyfriend. He is very jealous of Ji-hyuk and Soo-ah's relationship and vows to get revenge.

Spoiler 🚨 I am really glad that I decided to watch this. I have been enjoying the "flower boy" series by TVN. This highlighted some of the prices of fame. I think it is much more extreme in South Korea than in the United States but it is "lonely at the top" for most famous people regardless of the country. I really feel sorry that fans make it so hard on celebrities. I know some of the young celebrities in the United States get a tough rap because they are constantly under the microscope. I liked the bromances - the relationships between the guys in the band was really heartwarming.

I loved this one - the music was great, the story was really compelling and well developed. A lot of reviews rated this lower but I thought the story was so original, the acting and music was really good and I enjoyed it from the first episode to the last.
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